Rob Grimshaw provides a sneak preview of the Windows 8 app: 'There are some lovely features to Windows 8 which we can use to create a really exciting and interesting version of the FT mobile application'

The Financial Times is working on an app for Windows 8, with a
tablet due to be released by Microsoft in the autumn.

"We're very excited about Windows 8 and what that might do for the
market place," Rob Grimshaw, managing director of FT.com, today
said in a meeting titled 'Beyond the Desktop', at which
he talked about the future of mobile.

"We think the tablet space has not yet been settled in who owns
it," he added.

Speaking to Journalism.co.uk about the Windows 8 app, Grimshaw
said: "Apple clearly have done amazing things in that space over
the past few years with a device that defined a whole new category.
But we can't believe that this is going to be a marketplace which
is just dominated by one player in perpetuity.

"We think it will end up being a much more diverse market place and
there is room for at least a couple more big players, and given the
effort that Microsoft is putting into Windows 8 it's entirely
possible that Microsoft will be one of those players."

He explained that the FT is working "to make sure that we have our
content available on all the major channels and we would like to be
able to do that ahead of the curve, as it were".

"We want to be there as our readers arrive," he added.

"When the devices first come to market and people start buying
them, one of the first things they are going to find is a Financial
Times Windows 8 app. And we are going to make a fantastic job of it
because there are some lovely features to Windows 8 which we can
use to create a really exciting and interesting version of the FT
mobile application."

The group of around 50 people who attended today's presentation got
a "sneak preview" of the app, but Grimshaw said they are not at a
stage where they can release images or details (see photo of
Grimshaw's presentation above).

"Whether it's Apple or Google or Amazon or Microsoft, what we are
always looking for is a crossover of interests" with both parties
benefitting, he said.

"What we found by talking to players like Microsoft and like Google
is that there is a balance in terms of those discussions that we
are comfortable with and we feel comfortable that the environment
being created around Windows 8 should be one that works well for
our business model."

He added that "this is a very complex space for publishers", saying
"we as a publisher have to be very clear about where our commercial
interests lie and be prepared to back that".

"One thing that we are very clear about is that we are not linked
inextricably to any one individual platform, we are there because
the terms work for us and if the terms change and they don't work
then we'll come off."

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